The Austin auditor’s office on Thursday accused local nonprofit Central Texas Allied Health Institute of fraudulently billing taxpayers for roughly $1.1 million for COVID-19 relief efforts and workforce development across three contracts with Austin Public Health.

According to the auditor, the institute submitted to the city's health department fraudulent financial transactions and inflated its numbers of COVID-19 vaccines distributed in order to meet a threshold that guaranteed payment. The vendor billed roughly $1.1 million, and the city paid $417,000 before the city suspected fraud and stopped makings payments. The auditor found that:

• The vendor billed $406,000 for COVID-19 vaccines, of which the city improperly paid $307,000.
• The vendor billed $110,000 for workforce development and the city improperly paid that total amount.
• The vendor billed $604,000 for COVID-19 testing, but the city never paid.

Central Texas Allied Health Institute denies 'any intentional or unintentional fraudulent activity,' audit office stands by findings

The institute denied the accusations. In an email to the American-Statesman, institute President Todd Hamilton and Dr. Jereka Thomas-Hockaday said they "denied any intentional or unintentional fraudulent activity regarding community service grants received through Austin Public Health or the City of Austin. "

But they both said that when they were informed about the misuse of funds, they discovered that a disgruntled employee in Hamilton’s...

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